Constantine asks Hutchison: ‘Where’s the beef?’

In a day of dueling news conferences, Dow Constantine criticized county executive rival Susan Hutchison Wednesday afternoon for not offering specifics about how she’d deal with King County’s $56 million operating budget deficit.

“We’ve been waiting for months for her to come out of the shadows and actually address specifics about what she would do to reform King County and close the current budget gap. And we’re still waiting,” he said.

Constantine

Earlier Wednesday Hutchison held a news conference in which she said she’d unveil her “Bi-Partisan Plan to Reform King County.” She was joined by Lt. Gov. Brad Owen and former Seattle Mayor Wes Uhlman, both Democrats, who said they were endorsing her campaign. However she said she’d release specifics of her budget plans later in the month.

Constantine, the Democratic County Council chairman, said Hutchison offered the “same old rhetoric drawn from the Republican playbook. To quote the famous TV ad from my youth, ‘where’s the beef?”’

The executive’s race is officially non-partisan. Hutchison has never run for public office before, but she has ties to conservative groups and has donated money to Republican candidates. She says Constantine and Democrats are playing partisan politics to distract voters from the mess they’ve made of county government.

Constantine said despite her claims, Hutchison is running a partisan campaign. He said the Democrats she touted as supporters – Owen and Uhlman – are “far outside the mainstream of the Democratic party.”

Uhlman was a supporter of Republican Dino Rossi in his failed gubernatorial bid. Owen, Constantine said, is a “very conservative Democrat from Mason County who can’t even vote in this election.”

Constantine touted his endorsements from Democratic Gov. Chris Gregoire and Sens. Patty Murray and Maria Cantwell, both D-Wash., as well his Democratic primary opponents. He also pointed to his previously announced plan to try to address the county’s operating budget deficit.

“My proposal…identified up to $75 million worth of savings,” he said.

Constantine said he would prioritize “people, parks and public safety” in budget discussions.

On Wednesday he also:

Said he favored more unpaid furlough days for county workers next year if that would help keep parks and other services open to county residents. The county’s unions, which OK’d 10 unpaid furlough days this year, have said they oppose further furloughs.

“I think the unions sense they are in a time of transition and they are trying to figure which direction the county is going. I need to be clear about this. If we have a choice between furloughs, where everybody takes 10 days off a year unpaid, or cutting direct services for the people of King County we have to have the furloughs. I would like it very much if we could negotiate and get agreement for those furloughs. But if we’re not, I think hard choices have to be made by the executive and the council to impose the furlough,” Constantine said. “You’re making hard choices now. You’re choosing closing health clinics, closing parks or having people take 10 unpaid days off a year in the short term, you have to go with the 10 unpaid days.”

At her news conference earlier Wednesday Hutchison was asked about county-wide furloughs and said she was “absolutely” open to the idea of discussing with labor ways to avoid more furlough days next year.

Constantine said he was working with his Democratic primary rivals – Councilman Larry Phillips, state Rep. Ross Hunter and state Sen. Fred Jarrett – to incorporate their ideas into his administration. For example, he said he’d spoken with Hunter about improving the county’s business taxation climate and he’d talked with Jarrett about making the county more efficient by implementing performance measures.

Responding to Hutchison’s assertion that Constantine was too partisan a Democrat to bring change to county government, he said “I believe she billed her press conference as bipartisan. Ostensibly the two people standing next to her were Democrats, which I guess makes her the Republican. But I have been someone who has worked across the county and across the aisle.”

He said he’d be releasing endorsements in the future from people across the political spectrum.

“Constantine is currently the Chair of the King County Council and has also served as the Chair of the Budget Committee. For the past seven years he has been in a position to reform King County government and has repeatedly failed to do so,” McCarren said. “It is foolish to suggest he would act differently as County Executive than he did as Chair of the County Council.”